[Music]
you
disturbing definitions buy me a beef
every pause says here pause when I was
younger I concluded decided realized
that if you can’t define the words you
use in practical terms you don’t know
what you’re talking about
hang on did you say when you were
younger
you’ve never been younger you’ve always
been sifri don’t be silly my younger I
meant having lived for a lesser length
of time than the length of time I’ve
lived up until this moment so why didn’t
you say that you said when you were
younger
but you’ve never been younger you’ve
never been for example one of the
American Wild West outlaw younger
brothers Jim younger John younger Bob
younger and the more famous Cole Younger
the younger brothers who rode with Frank
and Jesse James in the james-younger
gang and robbed banks you’ve never
robbed a bank younger means younger not
necessarily well anyway
could you bring me a chair please I want
to sit down what’s that
that’s a chair from a doll’s house it’s
tiny I can’t sit on that I need a chair
I can sit on well you can sit on that a
chair is a chair chair means chair and
of course none of us would entrust the
future fortunes of ourselves let alone
our children to someone who defines the
world in such absurdly narrow ways as
younger means younger and chair means
chair we’re all far too intelligent to
fall for anything as foolish and
irresponsible as that though it should
be noted that intelligent people can
make foolish mistakes the common problem
is having the courage to admit it but
you know what I mean no I don’t know
what you mean define your terms I
realized when putting this talk together
that it would take hours to cover my
chosen subject disturbing definitions so
this is an introduction to disturbing
definitions a selection of words phrases
philosophies the popular definitions of
which I find disturbing and which in
turn I wish to disturb so first
politics
the activities associated with the
governance of a country or area and my
definition politics the wielding of
persuasion influence power control
politics the wielding of persuasion
influence power control next religion
the belief in and worship of a
superhuman controlling power especially
a personal god or gods a particular
system of faith and worship and my
definition religion the wielding of
persuasion influence power control
religion the wielding of persuasion
influence power control indeed I would
discard the word religion in favor of
the term religion ISM a belief system
alongside other belief systems
conservatism liberalism socialism
communism totalitarianism religion ISM
hang on a minute I’ll allow that as you
verging on the margins of amusingly
point out they have some features in
common but one thing differentiates
religion from politics religion is about
spirituality religion is spiritual
all belief systems are spiritual
spiritual is the antonym of the opposite
of corporeal spiritual of the mind
corporeal of the body so whether you’re
thinking of the shopping the laundry or
how the universe was created or of
whether the universe was created as
opposed to it being eternal or whether
you’re thinking of whether you should
vote for this or that particular
representative of this or that belief
system when you are thinking you are
engaging your mind rather than your body
you are being spiritual rather than
corporeal which lands me back replacing
religion with the more homogeneously
accurate term religion ism as a belief
system alongside other belief systems
conservatism liberalism socialism
communism totalitarianism religion ISM
put into practice belief systems are
politics the wielding of persuasion
influence power control
ah excuse me I’m receiving a note I’ve
just received a note it’s addressed to
not younger it’s titled a note on
politics and reads please note if you
read this note it will become political
spelt political pol itic L II yes Oh
something on this side as well if you
happen to be the only person on a planet
lighting a fire is an a political act
light a fire on a planet populated by
more than one human being and lighting
that fire is a political act
I’ll have to think about that
in the 60s and 70s I read a great deal
of science fiction at last count before
moving my collection into charity shops
I had over 5,000 books of sci-fi during
all that time science fiction was not
viewed as serious literature now
Literature Prize winners are writing the
stuff I was annoyed at the genre are
being viewed with condescension probably
because I felt people might have thought
me shallow for reading so much of the
stuff but I had long ago stopped calling
it science fiction I had arrived at what
I still consider a more fitting and more
accurate defining term science fiction
prophetic sociology
science fiction prophetic sociology
now we come to a defining phrase that I
reject entirely finding meaning we don’t
find meaning we make meaning we
individually and collectively interpret
the universe we live in in that way we
accommodate ourselves to and survive in
the universe we don’t find meaning we
make meaning and then we lack the
courage to accept responsibility for the
meanings we make if meaning is just
lying around and we find it we are not
responsible for it we’ve just come
across it in untidy heaps scattered
across a panorama if we make meaning
that makes us responsible for the
meanings we make and that responsibility
takes us out of our comfort zone and so
we define the process as finding rather
than making meaning of course rejecting
responsibility for what we make is not
confined to our species we merely follow
the time-honored example of the
hypothetical celestial role model which
leads me to a subject the hypothetical
celestial role model has absolutely no
interest in whatsoever democracy
which my mind insists on defining as yes
I’m sorry
collective responsibility contrary to
the claim not in my name in a democracy
We the People though not culpable
meaning we didn’t directly do the dirty
deed are nonetheless collectively
responsible for the policies and actions
of the government of the day even if we
didn’t vote for the but even even if we
didn’t vote for the party currently
forming the government that collective
responsibility is the price we pay for
the great privilege of living in a
democracy which leads me discomforting
Lee to a phrase as definition part of me
wishes I had never ventured near and
instead had listened to my inner police
officers voice saying move along move
along nothing to see here move along
unfortunately for my comfort zone I
stopped stared leaned closer and
examined the phrase innocent civilians
in a dictatorship most citizens are
innocent civilians because they have no
control over their government but in a
democracy because they’re not culpable
they share collective responsibility for
the policies and actions of their
government those eligible to vote are
not innocent civilians in a democracy
only those without the vote are innocent
civilians
we’re almost at the end of this
introduction to disturbing definitions
there are other definitions of items I
would have liked to explore definitions
which should be brought up to date for
example the definition of life death
atheism theism language objectivity is
fast food a reference to lint or Ramadan
but for now it’s conclusion time so in
conclusion though we may share a common
tongue we all speak a different language
our own particular or vague definitions
of the words and phrases we use I think
it’s a mistake to assume the efficacy of
know what I mean without accurate and
agreed definitions if we think we have
dialogue we’re fooling ourselves we have
instead noise and chaos of parallel
monologues I consider myself a pragmatic
idealist or an idealistic pragmatist so
to paraphrase an actor in the role of a
president in a heartwarming romantic
movie I saw we have serious problems to
solve and we need serious people to
solve them and the philosophy that says
younger means younger and chair means
chair is the philosophy of those who
fear a clarity fear detail fear depth
and hope to sneak in a dishonest agenda
under the cover of noise and the chaos
of parallel monologues in the guise of
dialogue don’t trust them
[Applause]
you
disturbing definitions buy me a beef
every pause says here pause when I was
younger I concluded decided realized
that if you can’t define the words you
use in practical terms you don’t know
what you’re talking about
hang on did you say when you were
younger
you’ve never been younger you’ve always
been sifri don’t be silly my younger I
meant having lived for a lesser length
of time than the length of time I’ve
lived up until this moment so why didn’t
you say that you said when you were
younger
but you’ve never been younger you’ve
never been for example one of the
American Wild West outlaw younger
brothers Jim younger John younger Bob
younger and the more famous Cole Younger
the younger brothers who rode with Frank
and Jesse James in the james-younger
gang and robbed banks you’ve never
robbed a bank younger means younger not
necessarily well anyway
could you bring me a chair please I want
to sit down what’s that
that’s a chair from a doll’s house it’s
tiny I can’t sit on that I need a chair
I can sit on well you can sit on that a
chair is a chair chair means chair and
of course none of us would entrust the
future fortunes of ourselves let alone
our children to someone who defines the
world in such absurdly narrow ways as
younger means younger and chair means
chair we’re all far too intelligent to
fall for anything as foolish and
irresponsible as that though it should
be noted that intelligent people can
make foolish mistakes the common problem
is having the courage to admit it but
you know what I mean no I don’t know
what you mean define your terms I
realized when putting this talk together
that it would take hours to cover my
chosen subject disturbing definitions so
this is an introduction to disturbing
definitions a selection of words phrases
philosophies the popular definitions of
which I find disturbing and which in
turn I wish to disturb so first
politics
the activities associated with the
governance of a country or area and my
definition politics the wielding of
persuasion influence power control
politics the wielding of persuasion
influence power control next religion
the belief in and worship of a
superhuman controlling power especially
a personal god or gods a particular
system of faith and worship and my
definition religion the wielding of
persuasion influence power control
religion the wielding of persuasion
influence power control indeed I would
discard the word religion in favor of
the term religion ISM a belief system
alongside other belief systems
conservatism liberalism socialism
communism totalitarianism religion ISM
hang on a minute I’ll allow that as you
verging on the margins of amusingly
point out they have some features in
common but one thing differentiates
religion from politics religion is about
spirituality religion is spiritual
all belief systems are spiritual
spiritual is the antonym of the opposite
of corporeal spiritual of the mind
corporeal of the body so whether you’re
thinking of the shopping the laundry or
how the universe was created or of
whether the universe was created as
opposed to it being eternal or whether
you’re thinking of whether you should
vote for this or that particular
representative of this or that belief
system when you are thinking you are
engaging your mind rather than your body
you are being spiritual rather than
corporeal which lands me back replacing
religion with the more homogeneously
accurate term religion ism as a belief
system alongside other belief systems
conservatism liberalism socialism
communism totalitarianism religion ISM
put into practice belief systems are
politics the wielding of persuasion
influence power control
ah excuse me I’m receiving a note I’ve
just received a note it’s addressed to
not younger it’s titled a note on
politics and reads please note if you
read this note it will become political
spelt political pol itic L II yes Oh
something on this side as well if you
happen to be the only person on a planet
lighting a fire is an a political act
light a fire on a planet populated by
more than one human being and lighting
that fire is a political act
I’ll have to think about that
in the 60s and 70s I read a great deal
of science fiction at last count before
moving my collection into charity shops
I had over 5,000 books of sci-fi during
all that time science fiction was not
viewed as serious literature now
Literature Prize winners are writing the
stuff I was annoyed at the genre are
being viewed with condescension probably
because I felt people might have thought
me shallow for reading so much of the
stuff but I had long ago stopped calling
it science fiction I had arrived at what
I still consider a more fitting and more
accurate defining term science fiction
prophetic sociology
science fiction prophetic sociology
now we come to a defining phrase that I
reject entirely finding meaning we don’t
find meaning we make meaning we
individually and collectively interpret
the universe we live in in that way we
accommodate ourselves to and survive in
the universe we don’t find meaning we
make meaning and then we lack the
courage to accept responsibility for the
meanings we make if meaning is just
lying around and we find it we are not
responsible for it we’ve just come
across it in untidy heaps scattered
across a panorama if we make meaning
that makes us responsible for the
meanings we make and that responsibility
takes us out of our comfort zone and so
we define the process as finding rather
than making meaning of course rejecting
responsibility for what we make is not
confined to our species we merely follow
the time-honored example of the
hypothetical celestial role model which
leads me to a subject the hypothetical
celestial role model has absolutely no
interest in whatsoever democracy
which my mind insists on defining as yes
I’m sorry
collective responsibility contrary to
the claim not in my name in a democracy
We the People though not culpable
meaning we didn’t directly do the dirty
deed are nonetheless collectively
responsible for the policies and actions
of the government of the day even if we
didn’t vote for the but even even if we
didn’t vote for the party currently
forming the government that collective
responsibility is the price we pay for
the great privilege of living in a
democracy which leads me discomforting
Lee to a phrase as definition part of me
wishes I had never ventured near and
instead had listened to my inner police
officers voice saying move along move
along nothing to see here move along
unfortunately for my comfort zone I
stopped stared leaned closer and
examined the phrase innocent civilians
in a dictatorship most citizens are
innocent civilians because they have no
control over their government but in a
democracy because they’re not culpable
they share collective responsibility for
the policies and actions of their
government those eligible to vote are
not innocent civilians in a democracy
only those without the vote are innocent
civilians
we’re almost at the end of this
introduction to disturbing definitions
there are other definitions of items I
would have liked to explore definitions
which should be brought up to date for
example the definition of life death
atheism theism language objectivity is
fast food a reference to lint or Ramadan
but for now it’s conclusion time so in
conclusion though we may share a common
tongue we all speak a different language
our own particular or vague definitions
of the words and phrases we use I think
it’s a mistake to assume the efficacy of
know what I mean without accurate and
agreed definitions if we think we have
dialogue we’re fooling ourselves we have
instead noise and chaos of parallel
monologues I consider myself a pragmatic
idealist or an idealistic pragmatist so
to paraphrase an actor in the role of a
president in a heartwarming romantic
movie I saw we have serious problems to
solve and we need serious people to
solve them and the philosophy that says
younger means younger and chair means
chair is the philosophy of those who
fear a clarity fear detail fear depth
and hope to sneak in a dishonest agenda
under the cover of noise and the chaos
of parallel monologues in the guise of
dialogue don’t trust them
[Applause]
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